Deep Study of a Modern Master: EUGENE BURGER
Taught by Dr. Larry Hass, the Dean
February 10-February 24, 2022
$195.00
Taught online through the Zoom platform on three Thursdays: February 10, February 17, and February 24 at 5:00 p.m. PACIFIC (8:00 p.m. EASTERN). Each session is 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes Q & A. PLEASE NOTE: All the sessions will be recorded and available to registrants for one year.
Dr. Larry Hass is a world-leading expert on Eugene Burger. In this long-awaited course, Larry will lead you in a DEEP STUDY of Eugene’s masterful magic and philosophy of magic. You will learn at least 7 of Eugene’s astonishing, real-world magic routines, with all the depth and detail he shared with Larry over the 23 years of their close friendship. Larry will also work to present the essential wisdom of Eugene’s approach to performing magic with impact and excellence, insights and principles that are scattered throughout Eugene’s writings. However, special attention will be paid to Eugene’s three final books that he and Larry collaborated on starting in 2010: Teaching Magic, Eugene Burger: From Beyond, and Eugene Burger: Final Secrets.
Having Eugene's books is NOT a pre-requisite to attend, although the three final books are available for purchase here.
Eugene Burger (1939-2017) was one of the most influential and beloved magicians of the past 40 years. He shared his extraordinary, wonderful magic on stages and television all over the world. As the author of over 20 books and videos for magicians, Eugene was celebrated during his lifetime as a world-leading teacher of magic. Indeed, he was the recipient of several of the highest honors that a magician can receive, including 5 awards from the Academy of Magical Arts and the prestigious FISM Special Award for Theory/Philosophy. From its founding in 1991, he was also the Dean of Jeff McBride’s Magic & Mystery School, what the BBC has called “the world’s most prestigious magic school.”
Larry Hass was one of Eugene’s closest friends and confidants. When Eugene was planning how to share his unpublished materials, he reached out to Larry with the request for Larry to write, collect, oversee, and publish two posthumous books that would share these materials with the magic world: Eugene Burger: From Beyond (2019) and Eugene Burger: Final Secrets (2021). In fact, several of these materials were released early at Eugene’s request in Teaching Magic (2017). Eugene selected Larry for this task because, as Eugene has written, “Larry Hass knows more about my magic than anyone—because no one has studied my writings and videos more closely than he has, like a scholar.”
In this 3-part online course, Larry Hass will engage the participants in a deep study of the magic and wisdom of Eugene Burger. There will be reading assignments (for those who have the books) that will greatly serve your understanding of Eugene’s essential thinking about magic as an art form and how to achieve excellence in its performance. You will learn many of Eugene’s wonderful pieces of magic—at least 7 in great detail—and Larry will reveal what guided Eugene’s decisions and values in creating and performing them. You will also experience Dr. Hass’s energetic interpretation of the central elements in Eugene’s philosophy of magic as a whole—inspirational insights that have the power to transform your magic… and your life!
Although it is not mandatory, many attendees will want to read the assigned pages for each of the three classes. Teaching Magic, Eugene Burger: From Beyond, and Eugene Burger: Final Secrets, are currently available at Theory and Art of Magic Press for $40, $79.95, and $120.00 respectively. Larry will also refer students to important readings in such books as Spirit Theater, The Experience of Magic, and Mastering the Art of Magic.
Larry is utterly thrilled to teach this course about his friend and mentor—the person who initiated Larry’s own transformation from “college professor” to full-time professional magician, and the person whose legacy he follows as the Dean of the Magic & Mystery School.
